The Labor enquirer., 1887-04-02

insmsu'S papers are filed with such ar
guments Of discomfort aeains the present
economic system.
I Unfortunatelv the workman reads
thoee'newspapers which are likely to
give him the opinions he wishes and
eeah reading does not by any means
lead 70 the contentment it ought.
10 the inevitable men will submit.
6ubmission becomes q sublime virtue
whenlons believes himself to be accept
ing the hard necessity imposed by I
higher power for wise purpose. but
whom the obstacles to success are human
being, or believed to be 90, tlien the
duty falls into contempt. II. howevet.
in competition with others 1t Is believed
that al comers have affair chance, the
difficulty NAV enhance the pleasure ci
exertion. When, as now, vast numbers
suspect that competition is useless and
that work e. hard as thev may the ad-
vantage is with the opponent who with
money. machines and power at com.
mand can crush out all opposition, then p
the struggle for existence becomes trag-
edy. the darker because it is rnlightsd
BY hope.
Our side Of the prob lem is to see how
this general discomfort against existi1 q
has made the common pep
pie, particularly in our cities, feel toward
the church. +
In the early centuries of Christianity,
the church was looked upon as distinct.
lively the friend Of the poor. It is now
looked upon as distinctively the friend
Of the rich. N
Asainst!the church is the cry and it
fs an exceedingly bitter crv--is that bv
Its authodty the wise and respectable
have through all these ages been taking
their good things in this, meanwhile OK.
horting the less fortunate to wait forthe
rewards and compensations Of another
world. One of the most significant in
dicatiens, as Mr.. Bachelor says in late
magazine article, is the clearly an
nounced intention of the majority to
take their share of the good things now
and let the next world take care of itself.
The child who for years has watched
with delight the annual Fourth of July
fireworks display, from the roof of her
fathers house, when allowed to see
them near at hand, astonished and de-
lighted bv the unexpected splendors.
exclaimed in disgust at her former sat
isfaction; ITO think that 1 have been
banboozled all these years into believ-
ing that I was ENJOYING these things"
Her cry is the cry of the multitude to-
day, and right or wrong. that cry is to
become historic.
As / said before in the past. all ages
have looked to the church to he some
how the link between the high and the
low, to give the miserable and the down
trodden hope and contentment, to hum
BILE the haughtiness of the at rong. The
Christian church has lived so long and
been respected and supported because
all classes have felt that it helped pre-
serve society and acted for the common
good.
This belief is fading away. The Rus
sian refugee that lands on our shores,
what does he think of the Christian
church, To him it is associated with
the state. The czar is the head Of both.
From infsncy the Greek church has
meantsubjection and slavery to him.
He Is only too glad to escape 1t.
The Polish American, what does he
think of the church? To him also the
Greek church is synonomous with the
Christian church and he hates it for it
means the tyranny Of the Russian con-
queror.
How is it with the Roman Catholic :?
Is it, as some fondly think, the great
friend of the poor and the sorrowful :?
Lest I should be accused of misstate-
ment, or bigotry, quote from the con-
fessions of Roman Catholic published
in the Forum of August, 1886:
"Ifthe people are degraded the church
ID in a great degree answerable, and BY
the church 1 mean the clergy, the
bishops and priests, the pastors of the
people. The pastors have seen the peo-
pie sunk in ignorance. misery and have
passed them by. The popes in their
public announcements have had much
to say in depreciation Of the unrestricted
liberty of printing. teaching, preaching,
robbing Of church property, and ILL.,
usage of bishops and priests, but never
word about the degradation of the peo-
ple, never an anathema against the in
humanity of the great landed proprie-
tors of Italy, Silesia and other Catholic
countries who have lived in splendor
while their poor serfs are trodden down.
The mighty influence of the church
ought to have been at all times exerted
for the uplifting of the people. Small
wonder If the church is losing the con-
fidence of the common people"
We need not particularize the numer-
ous things said about the Protestant
denominations. They too fall under the
general condemnation. Even such pop
ular denominations as the Methodists
and Baptists are losing their hold, in
1a-<,o c;t;oc On tho w0rkiuO laaaaa